- is a Caithness word meaning to desire eagerly, to envy. This is at the less discreditable end of the Envy spectrum. Indeed, it may be seem as a spur to getting on in the world as this proverb from Caithness, recorded by John Mowat in 1916 suggests: Em ’at ’ill ayest ’e silk goon will get ’e sleeve o’t [People with an ambition will get at least part of their aim].
There is a fine line between desire and envy and indeed some older uses of envy in Scots are more akin to the sense of the French avoir envie. The same folk-lorist is quoted in Alfred and Amy Johnston’s Old-Lore Miscellany describing protection against envious people who would seek to take away your luck: Before he was allowed to start, the horses and plough had to be blessed and sprinkled with the oatmeal and salt which she carried in her apron, because she said the folk will be “aystin” me.